


mountain flowers

by keishn



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Assassination Attempt(s), Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Minor Violence, Skyrim - Freeform, assassin!eren, thief!jean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-28
Updated: 2018-08-28
Packaged: 2019-07-03 19:20:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15825309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keishn/pseuds/keishn
Summary: “Looking for something?” he asks, twirling the handle of Eren’s dagger— Eren’s favorite, most prized, enchanted Elven dagger— between his fingers.





	mountain flowers

Eren isn’t cut out to be an assassin.  He’s not stoic like Levi, precise like Mikasa, or cunning like Armin. The only reason he even passed that stupid test in the cabin all those months ago was that one of the strangers looked vaguely like the person he watched murder his mother ten years ago.

He’s not cut out to be an assassin, and he’s certainly not Levi’s first choice for this particular contract.

“The Thieves’ Guild?” Eren repeats, tying his hair into a ponytail. “You want me to kill someone in the Guild?”

“No,” Levi says, “I _need_ you to kill someone in the Guild.”

#

Eren hates Riften. He hates the bard at the Bee and Barb, continually asking if Eren wants him to play something ( _No_ , he doesn’t. One can only hear Ragnar the Red so many times before wanting to turn to a very _brutal_ beating. Maybe using the bards own instrument.) He hates the incessant smell of fish that exists, pervasive, throughout the whole city but tenfold Plankside. He hates Jean Kirschtein, member of the Thieves Guild, for living here, and he hates the contractor for making Eren come here to kill him.

He also hates Kirschtein’s stupid two-toned shaggy haircut.

He uses his sleeve to wipe one of his daggers as he sits in the corner of the Inn, watching Kirschtein talk to a Stormcloak soldier with a bright smile and freckles.  He can’t wait to kill Kirschtein, to get the hell out of this city.

#

It’s well past nightfall when Kirschtein finally bids farewell to the Stormcloak and heads out of the Bee and Barb. (Alone, thankfully, Eren was beginning to worry he’d have to track them to a room and make sure no one left without his noticing).

Eren follows Kirschtein behind the large Temple devoted to Mara, sticking to the shadows so the torches don’t give him away.

He realizes once Kirschtein pushes a button on some stone sculpture resembling a table (or a coffin) that he must be returning to the Thieves’ Guild hideout. This territory is dangerous for Eren, a Dark Brotherhood Assassin, intent on killing one of the Guild members. (Their relations with the Guild were generally good if a little strained at times, but none of the Guild members have been marked for assassination until now.)

Eren jumps at the last second, Kirschtein’s foot halfway to a step.

They tumble down the stairs together, and at the end, Eren manages to gain steady control— much easier than he expected— knees on either side of Kirschtein’s hips. He lifts his dagger, only to find it’s not in his grip anymore.

“What the—”

Kirschtein pushes Eren off him without any trouble. He stands up, grins, lazy and conceited, as he looks down at Eren. “Looking for something?” he asks, twirling the handle of Eren’s dagger— Eren’s _f_ _avorite_ , most prized, enchanted Elven dagger— between his fingers.

Eren stands up, lunges at Kirschtein who ducks away. “Uh-uh,” Kirschtein says. He tilts his head, holds the dagger out for Eren. Eren suspects he won’t let go that easy, and he’s right because when he reaches for it Kirschtein pulls it away.

“Run along now,” Kirschtein says, disappearing below the wooden trap door.

Eren knows better than to try to follow.

#

Eren hates Riften. He hates Kirschtein for stealing his favorite dagger and not just quietly letting himself get assassinated without a fight like any unproblematic mark would. He stays the night in the Bee and Barb despite his better judgment, but he can’t just leave Riften. He needs his dagger back. And, he still needs to kill Kirschtein or else Levi will kill  _him_.

The only thing Eren finds more annoying than Kirschtein is Frostbite Spiders, but if the guy goes another day escaping Eren’s dagger, Kirschtein may just take the top spot.

#

Eren trails Jean from where he buys a wheel of cheese in the Plankside market to the gates of Riften; he doesn’t even bother hiding as he follows the thief out of the city. An assassin is probably the only one who  _could_ tail a thief without losing him, Eren thinks, and vice versa.

But then Eren  _does_ lose sight of Kirschtein. He takes a few steps forward, foot snapping a twig, then falls to the ground, a heavy weight on top of him. Eren groans. Then the weight leaves him and he’s tugged up by his shoulders in a rough motion and spun around.

Eren blinks at Kirschtein. Belatedly, he unsheathes his  _second_ favorite dagger (ebony, sharpened, not enchanted), but the thief just rolls his eyes.

“You’re not going to kill me.”

Eren narrows his eyes. “Why not?”

“Because then I won’t tell you where I hid your dagger,” Kirschtein says. “And you’ll die looking for it on your own.”

Eren points his dagger at Kirschtein’s throat, “Tell me where it is.”

“Calm down. Shit. Marco told me this morning that assassins were supposed to be level-headed.”

“I  _am_ level-headed,” Eren retorts, voice raising, dagger waving in the air.

Kirschtein raises his eyebrows. Eren should just kill him now— Fuck this guy is just irritating.

#

“Are you going to follow me while I take a piss?” Kirschtein says loud enough for Eren to hear.

Eren’s still pretending that Kirschtein doesn’t know he’s being trailed, but it’s clearly a useless exercise. He stands up fully, walks into view, “Are you going to try to lose me if I don’t?”

“Obviously,” Kirschtein answers.

“Then _obviously_ I’m going to follow you.”  
  
Kirschtein makes a face.

“I’m not going to  _watch_ ,” Eren says.

“Are you sure?” Kirschtein says. “You seem like you’d be into weird shit. You are an _assassin_ for a living, after all.”

“Fucking gross. Just piss, I’ll turn around.”

#

“I’ll cut you a deal,” Kirschtein says.

They’re outside the walls of Windhelm, hidden from the guards. They’ve been walking for hours at this point, and Kirschtein has officially topped the Frostbite Spider for the most annoying creature in all of Tamriel.

“What?” Eren asks.

“You have my back on this shill job, and I’ll show you where I put your dagger.”

“You need my help on a shill job?”

Kirschtein rolls his eyes. “I don’t  _need_ your help. But this guy is the Commander of the Stormcloaks, I have a feeling I know which of us would win if it came down to combat. And it’s not me.”

“You do realize when you show me where my dagger is, I’ll kill you.”

Kirschtein scoffs. “I’ll take my chances.”

“What do we know about the target?” Eren asks.

“I’ve heard he’s as tall as a tree. And apparently he’s so handsome that the women in Windhelm just offer to leave their husbands for him, but he’s never accepted any of their offers. In fact, there are whispers in the men of the town that he’s impotent and makes up for it by strategizing these elaborate guerrilla attacks on the Imperials.”

Eren thinks that none of those things sound true.

#

“He’s here,” Eren whispers. “Be quiet.”

The blonde man’s back is turned to them as he stands over his cooking pot.

#

They break into a run as they leave the Commander’s large Windhelm home. Adrenaline pumps through Eren’s veins.

“We did it,” Jean says when they finally stop, hidden in the shadows of the Grey Quarter. They both pant for breath and then break out in laughter, stifled behind the backs of their hands so no one will hear them.

Eren’s eyes catch Jean’s. He’s not quite sure why he does it; why he steps forward, why he grips the fabric of the Thieves’ Guild uniform in his hands, why he presses his lips against Jean’s.

Jean’s lips are pliant against his. Then the thief steps forward, their bodies pressed together, and he guides Eren until his back is against a dark wooden wall and they both fumble with their belts.

#

“There it is,” Jean says, elven dagger in hand. It glows a faint red, enchantment working through it.

They’ve stopped for the night at an inn in Shor's Stone, just outside of Riften. They’re sharing a room because it’s cheaper and Jean won’t get paid until they get back to Riften, and Eren has no gold after staying at the Bee and Barb and not getting back to the Brotherhood hideout to collect his payment for killing Jean.

“I thought you said you hid it,” Eren says, eyeing the dagger, not grabbing for it yet.

Jean rolls his eyes. “Obviously that was a lie.”

“Why are you giving it back to me now? I could kill you in your sleep tonight.”

“You won’t,” Jean says.

#

Eren turns the dagger over in his hands. Jean’s passed out on the bed next to him, drooling in his sleep.

He has to kill him. This is his  _job_.

Eren sighs, shoves the dagger back under his pillow.

He’s not cut out to be an assassin.

#

Eren isn’t afraid of the Wrath of Sithis; he’s sure he’s invoked that ten times over by not killing Jean, nevermind all the stuff that  _not killing_ Jean entailed. He’s invoked that for sure by refusing Levi’s order. It seems like a better outcome than having to kill Jean.

He is, however, very afraid of the Wrath of Levi.

Levi’s a master destruction mage. His technique is ruthless in a way that isn’t taught at the College of Winterhold, at least according to Armin who took a few classes at the college before deciding he preferred apprenticing for the alchemist in Windhelm. He learned from a coven somewhere. Apparently, his specialty used to be necromancy, but when he cut ties with the coven he switched to destruction.

Now he uses ice; it’s always ice.

Ever since the last superior died on a job, Levi’s been the leader of the Dark Brotherhood.

He doesn’t even have to tell Levi that he didn’t kill Jean. Levi already knew, could tell by the way Eren walked into the hideout. (Or maybe he heard from somewhere, Eren doesn’t know how many informant connections Levi has outside the Brotherhood.)

“You disobeyed me,” Levi says. “You made us all look bad. I knew I should have sent Mikasa but they insisted they wanted it done as quick as possible and _you_ were the only one available.”

“Is this contract really worth destroying our relationship with the Guild?”

Levi’s eyes flash, a rage. He lunges at Eren, grips his throat so tight that Eren sees stars. He ignores Eren’s gasps for breath, his hands hitting against the wall behind him.

“You  _idiot_. This contract _is_ our relationship with the Guild.”

He releases Eren, who falls to the ground and gasps for air.

That’s all Eren hears of it. He holds his breath, waiting for his punishment. It comes the next morning when he wakes up to frostbite on the tips of all his fingers.

#

Mikasa’s still gone, on some high-profile assassination in Markarth. She’s been gone for a while, and if it were anyone but Mikasa, Eren would be worried that she’d failed or  _worse_ got herself killed.

And Levi won’t take this contract on himself. He has  _business_ in Solitude, which likely means following up on a rumor about the Black Sacrament being performed in the shadows somewhere.

So it falls to Armin.

“Please don’t kill him,” Eren says.

Armin crushes petals from nightshade and deathbell with a mortar and pestle. Without turning around he says, “Do you know why Levi doesn’t take on assassinations anymore? Why he delegates all of them to the three of us?”

Eren blinks. “No.”

“There was a contract in Windhelm,” Armin says. “A high-profile one. An Imperial Leggate performed the Black Sacrament, there were rumors about it all over Whiterun, and when Levi went to investigate, they told him they wanted the Commander of the Stormcloaks dead.

“I’m not quite sure what happened when Levi went to Windhelm. But the Commander’s still alive. And Levi hasn’t taken on another assassination since.”

Eren remembers a blonde man cooking dinner for one in a house too big for one person. 

“What about the tenets?” Eren asks.

Armin shrugs, turns and smiles at Eren. “Levi  _was_ the higher-up. So he didn’t disobey anyone. And we can’t very well dishonor the Night Mother when there’s no Listener.”

“I thought he didn’t take sides in the war. Isn’t not killing the Commander kind of putting us all in jeopardy by aligning us with the Stormcloaks?”

Armin sighs. “Eren,” he says. “I don’t think it was because he was a Stormcloak. Some things I suspect even Levi can’t help but take sides in.”

#

Eren sends a note, one with the Brotherhood’s signature black hand on it.

It says two words: _Get out._

He doesn’t sign it.

#

“What am I going to do with you, Eren?” Levi asks. “You warned him we were sending someone else. “

When Eren says nothing, Levi continues. “Why can’t you just do what you’re told? This is becoming a wild goose chase.”

“What happened in Windhelm?” Eren asks. “Why didn’t you kill the Commander?”

Levi shoots a warning Ice spike at him. Eren can feel the cold radiating off it as it whirs by, only a hair away from his ear. Levi never misses. He can’t kill Eren, though. That would be breaking the tenets.

“I am your _superior_ ,” Levi says, “Never speak like that to me again.”

#

Eren ties the stems of blue mountain flowers and wheat together with a single piece of frayed string. If they happen to be ingredients that Armin taught him about when teaching him to make Restore Health potions, that’s just a coincidence.

He leaves it on the bed in the Windpeak Inn and waits in the shadows for the room’s occupant to return. He hates how his heart beats at the sight of Jean. When he’s sure Jean has found the gift he leaves.

He doesn’t see Jean turn around or the smile on his lips when he catches a swirl of red and black cloth exit the inn.

**Author's Note:**

> this is for [fuckingkirschtein](http://fuckingkirschtein.tumblr.com/) & coxstrom (it looks like he deleted his tumblr so i hope he sees this at some point somehow,) who i talked to about this au like a million years ago and finally was inspired to sit down and write.
> 
> * * *
> 
> i'm @keishn_ on twitter! come be frenemies.


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